One of the things that frequently came up when I was researching the wives of successful men was how often the men got a job, promotion, or landed important clients through their wife's networking.  I ended up devoting an entire chapter to the PR and Networking of wives because their efforts on this front seemed even more effective than when the men did it themselves.

Now a new study proves that women do indeed have the upper-hand when it comes to networking, and that this upper-hand translates to higher $$$.

From the Ottowa Citizen:

Female workers get by -- and earn more -- with a little help from their friends, a new study shows, but men don't enjoy the same boost from their social networks.

Women who found their current job through a close relative like a parent or sibling earned $32,691 a year on average, researchers at the University of Oregon found, while those who landed a job through a close friend earned $28,546. Those with no previous connection to their employer pulled in just $19,415 annually.

Men, meanwhile, didn't enjoy any salary benefits from their personal grapevine.

"I was expecting that males would be getting a much higher return for their social networks, but the study actually shows quite the opposite," says Michael Aguilera, an associate professor of sociology. [highlight is mine]

Now, obviously this study focused on how women's networking impacted their own careers, not their husbands.  But my interviews with couples routinely showed that when wives leveraged their connections on their husbands' behalf--whether those connections came from church, children's playgroups, or their own business contacts--their husbands received a big boost on the work front.

So ladies, I ask you: who do you know and are you making the most of those relationships to help your husband?